The Whitefish Community Foundation on May 18 awarded $383,201 to 46 nonprofit organizations in areas spanning from Bigfork to Eureka to Browning at its annual Community Grant Awards Celebration.
Funding included $270,701 in community grants, $12,500 in special awards and a $50,000 Major Community Project Grant to the Flathead Audubon Society for the conservation of the Owen-Sowerwine Natural Area in Kalispell. An additional $50,000 Kids Fund Grant was awarded to the Boys & Girls Club of Glacier Country for after-school programming in Evergreen.
Organizations in the Flathead Valley and beyond received awards to fund a variety of nonprofits, including organizations in Bigfork, Browning, Columbia Falls, Eureka, Evergreen, Hungry Horse, Kalispell and Whitefish.
Nonprofits ranging from conservation organizations to school districts to mental health programs were awarded funds while 15 nonprofit leaders were recognized who had served a local nonprofit for 20 years.
Additionally, the foundation awarded Carol Bibler with the Founders Leadership Award for her leadership with local and regional conservation organizations, including the establishment of the Foy’s to Blacktail Trails and the expansion of Herron Park. She also served on a slew of conservation boards over the last two decades.
The foundation’s grant programs are supported by the Circle of Giving, a group of donors who give annually and fund the annual grant program and matching pool.
Last December, Alan Davis was hired as the new Whitefish Community Foundation executive director and CEO following nearly eight years working at Whitefish Legacy Partners, a local nonprofit that has facilitated the development of The Whitefish Trail.
Davis told the Beacon last December that he planned to grow the Circle of Giving, which raised $1.2 million in 2021.
“The Circle is really the fuel that keeps the engine running,” Davis said in December.
The foundation manages more than $50 million in assets and, since debuting the Great Fish Challenge in 2015, has distributed more than $17 million to benefit local nonprofits directly. In the last two decades, the foundation has raised a total of $56 million and benefited 283 nonprofits.
“The Flathead Valley is growing at a rate that labor and housing and our land just can’t keep up with,” Davis said. “That gap between the community’s needs and this growth is often where nonprofits live.”